Tea at Trianon: 'Priceless' Medieval School Text Found to be Unique

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

'Priceless' Medieval School Text Found to be Unique

Shrewsbury School The 14th Century manuscript with Latin text lies open and has a white rope book mark inside one of its pages

The book was written in the 14th century. From the BBC:

A "priceless" manuscript held in a school library has been confirmed as the only surviving complete version of a work by an early medieval writer. Shrewsbury School said it was gifted a copy of Richard Rolle's Emendatio vitae - or The Emending of Life - in 1607 and it had been kept in its Ancient Library ever since. Dr Timothy Glover, a specialist in medieval literature, said he was the "only person since the Middle Ages to have read [the book]" knowing that it was Rolle's original. The discovery provided "fresh insight into the development of medieval Christian writing and English literary culture," said the school. (Read more.)

From the University of Cambridge:

How does a hermit become England’s most widely-read author in a period sandwiched between the Great Famine and the Wars of the Roses?

It’s a question many scholars have considered but a once-in-a-lifetime discovery by Dr Timothy Glover brings us closer than ever to the enigmatic author Richard Rolle.

In a study published in Mediaeval Studies, Dr Glover, a medieval literature researcher, demonstrates that manuscript ‘MS 25’ in Shrewsbury School’s Ancient 'Taylor' Library contains the only complete surviving copy of Richard Rolle’s original draft of Emendatio vitae (The Emending of Life).

He also shows that all other copies known to survive actually contain an abridged version made by someone else. This makes the manuscript one of the earliest surviving collections of Rolle’s work in Latin. The priceless text offers unique insights into how Rolle worked, disseminated his writing and who his initial reader was.

“I'm the only person since the Middle Ages to have read this knowing that it’s Rolle’s original,” Dr Glover says. “It's such an important manuscript and it offers a direct connection with an author who deserves far greater recognition.”

“Medieval people struggled with distractions as we do today. They were trying to still their wandering minds. Rolle offered practical strategies to help, and some people treated him like a saint for it.”

Dr Glover published his findings while working at Corpus Christi College, following a Research Fellowship at Emmanuel College. He recently moved to the University of Bergen.

Leo Winkley, Headmaster of Shrewsbury School, said: “This is an extraordinary discovery for Shrewsbury School. We are honoured to be the custodians of the original and only surviving complete version of Richard Rolle’s Emendatio vitae since it was gifted to the School in 1607. The manuscript reveals the text as it was actually written by one of the most influential English authors of the medieval period.

“It is also a powerful reminder of the depth and continuity of our Ancient 'Taylor' Library, founded in 1606 as a place of universal learning for the pupils of Shrewsbury School. The Library holds an exceptional range of material, including medieval manuscripts, incunabula printed before 1500, Newton’s Principia, and books and manuscripts associated with figures such as Samuel Butler and Old Salopian Charles Darwin." (Read more.)